The Local

 

It's so easy to take the most local trail for granted. The one outside your door. We have been fortunate to always live close to great places to walk. I can pretend no great knowing or planning or researching to find this place, but we did have good intuition about it. I often drive to other trailheads, but really, none are lovelier, or have more variety than The Local.

Much of the trail looks approximately like the image above. Trails in a forest, leaves on the ground, Jasper.

A friend gave Jasper this very chik scarf. Stylish and practical. Not only is it that garish hunter's orange, but it's got permethrin in it to ward off ticks.

I'd like to give you a small tour of The Local. Today when I actually remembered to bring my phone, and I looked at the trail in a different way, since I wanted to be able to show it to you. It's a conundrum for me. I hate having the interruption of a phone, and I feel like if I'm taking pictures, I'm thinking about the future, not basking in the present. However! There's no denying that I see things differently when I'm photographing them. Here are some of the sights that I see on this hour-long (roughly) hike!

It begins here. The edge of our driveway, through the septic drain field and. . .

. . into the woods. There is a long downward slope for about a quarter mile until the trail opens up to the right or left.

The bottom of the trail opens up to a wider area, which eventually joins up to the Messalonskee Stream Trails. 

I think the thing I most love about these Maine forests (and Eastern forests in general) is their complexity. There are so many tree species: Pines, Hemlocks, Spruce, and then the deciduous trees: Beech, Birch, Ash, Maples. So many Maples. The Hemlocks are particular favorites. I just love their feathery softness.

This one marks a turn just down our hill. The new growth on evergreens are called "candles". Fresh light green tufts of photosynthetic wonder. . .

Light green candles.

The forest floor is also amazing in it's complexity, though it often has drifts of low plants that dominate a certain section of the woods. These are ferns, which are incredibly lush and multitudinous. [OK. When I start using words like "multitudinous", we know I'm getting tired. . . ]

This is a drift of yellow violets. I've never seen this many yellow violets in one place before! They like the margins between the trail (where there is light) and the forest edge.

And here is a closeup of the flowers. Very sweet. And curiously strong. 

Well. I'm realizing that this post is getting overly long, and I need to eat dinner. I'll continue tomorrow: The Local, part II.